Robot Wars

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Robot Wars is a competition involving remote controlled miniature vehicles built by mechanics, engineers and inventors, and equipped with weapons, to battle with one another in an arena, gladiator-style, until only the winner is left operational. The first Robot Wars competition was held in August, 1994 at the Fort Mason Center in San Francisco, California. It was the brainchild of Marc Thorpe with financial backing from Sm:)e Communications, a New York record company. The San Francisco based Robot Wars continued through 1997 when the partnership broke up, starting many years for legal wrangling between Thorpe and Profile Records (the former Sm:)e Communications). Profile licensed Robot Wars to a UK production company (Mentorn) who derived the Robot Wars television format and series. The 5th Wars is currently airing in the UK on the digital channel, Sky One (Sundays, 10am).

Contents

[edit] The show

Robot Wars became a successful British television series, which attracted a large cult following. The TV series was less anarchic than the original American version and has well-defined rules, classes and a tournament structure. In turn the UK series was remade in the US for television.

Season one of Robot Wars (UK) was presented by Jeremy Clarkson and Phillipa Forester. Enthusiastic commentary of the fights was provided by Jonathan Pearce. Craig Charles succeeded Clarkson from season two onwards. Julia Reed took over from Forester for a single season (four), due to Forester's maternity commitments. Jayne Middlemiss replaced Forester from season six onwards. Craig Charles would start each bout with the instruction "Let the wars begin!", and end each show with a short rhyming couplet featuring the phrase "Robot Wars", together with a trademark salute.

There were seven series in the seven-year run of the show. Currently in the UK, the format has been dropped, and there are no plans for it to come back. However live events featuring robotic combat still take place in the UK and other countries.

Reruns are shown on PBS in America, and on the Sci Fi Channel, Jetix, Sky One and UKTV People in the UK. It formerly aired on TechTV and G4 in the U.S. Versions of the show have been shown in over 45 different countries, including Sweden, Italy, China and Ireland. In some countries that prefer not to use the English commentary, the show is dubbed; in others commentary is provided by native-speaking commentators who attended the recordings in the UK.

[edit] The robots

The competition which forms most of the televised part of Robot Wars is the heavyweight class, with a maximum all-up weight of 100kg (this was increased from 80kg after the first four series). The rules allow electric or liquid-fuel power (though in the latter case fuel carried is strictly limited to six minutes running time), and permits any weapons that remain attached to the main vehicle (i.e. untethered projectiles, flame throwers, electrical discharge weapons and water cannons are banned). Hardened circular saws are also banned because they may (and have) shattered dangerously into the crowd. The House Robots sometimes break these rules. For instance, Sgt. Bash is equipped with a flame-thrower.

Most of the machines are not true robots by the scientific definition, because they are not autonomous. They are remotely-controlled by their teams, so could be more properly referred to as Remote Operated Vehicles (ROVs). However, the TV show has influenced the general public in the UK to such a point that if you were to say "I'm building a robot" the likely response will be "Like on Robot Wars?" Remote control is not a requirement however - autonomous robots are allowed to compete.

[edit] Types of robots

In the first series, and to a lesser extent the second series, competitors' robots were very diverse, with all sorts of untried designs being put forward. After a while competitors designs tended to converge to a few established successful designs. In later series, it was often the same teams and robots that ended up reaching the final stages of the contest. Successful design types include:

  • Wedges with flippers (occasionally called the "classic wedge") - can get under an opponent and flip them over. Chaos 2, the only two-time champion, is one of the most well-known and most powerful of these types, possessing a carbon dioxide powered front flipper that can literally throw other robots out of the arena. In the UK series, however, it was Cassius, an evolution of the first-series robot Recyclops that pioneered the power of a flipper and its 'self-righting' capabilities. Cassius' weapon, rather than lifting the enemy, pushed it away from the robot. The most recent development of this design is the Dutch robot Gravity, with flipping power far exceeding that of the retired Chaos 2. The flipper on Gravity has a lifting force of around four tonnes.
  • Invertible flat boxes - are immune to being inverted by wedges. Weaponry varies; often a cutting disk used. The most notable of these are past champion Tornado and Third World Champion Storm II. In many cases, these robots do not rely on their weapons but rather on their ability to push opponents into the arena pit or to repeatedly slam them against the arena wall until they break. Series 2 champion Panic Attack and 3 Stegs to Heaven also had much pushing power.
  • Axes: Axe-based robots attempt to damage opponents by swinging sharp objects into them. Stinger and Sump Thing use an axe powered only by the drive motors, applying reverse drive in order to swing the body around in order to attack. Other designs use pneumatic power to drive axes. The most successful current designs use a pneumatic cylinder to move a rack which turns a gear on which an axe head is mounted. TerrorHurtz and Thor are examples of this type. Behemoth uses a similar transmission, using a pneumatic cylinder to pull a chain which turns a sprocket on which an axe is mounted. Despite the success of axe-robots like Dominator 2 and TerrorHurtz, a machine armed with an axe never won the competition.
  • Jaws - can enclose a competitor and crush/pierce it. This requires enormous force and there have been few successful designs. A notable exception is former UK and World champion Razer, which once did devastating damage to the house robot Matilda with its hydraulic pincer. (At the end of the show in which this happened, there was a brief voiceover [which said, in a rather mournful voice, "Matilda, created at the dawn of Robot Wars, RIP - "Rust In Peace". DIA - "Destroyed in Action".], suggesting that Matilda had been destroyed beyond repair, but then the tone changed, the voiceover said "DYWB, Do Ya Wanna Bet?", the sad music stopped, and the robot was subsequently shown to be in good repair, albeit heavily 'bandaged'.) The Dutch machine Tough As Nails is a new kind of jaw wielding heavyweight. The whole body is a horizontal claw with 2 big wheels attached. The exerted force is not that great, with 1.2 tons at the jaw tips, but it is a very fast acting weapon, running on high pressure CO2 gas rather than hydraulics. On the UK live robot circuit, Kan-Opener is probably the most powerful crushing robot, having gone undefeated in the Annihilator competition. Kan-Opener and Tough As Nails are invertible.
  • Stored energy weapons - heavy flywheels spun up to speed by electric motors or internal combustion engines have proved very successful in causing damage. The first UK robot to fully demonstrate the power of such a weapon was Hypno-disc, which literally tore apart some of its earlier opponents, and even once knocked the armoured skirting off Matilda. In the US the full-body spinning robot Blendo was deemed too dangerous to take part in the early competitions, which lacked adequate barriers between the robots and the audience. Typhoon 2 is the UK pinnacle of this design, having won the final series of UK Robot Wars. It used its whole spinning chassis as a weapon and was capable of tearing the sides from the arena. This type of weaponry is often banned at live events, simply because there are few arenas in the UK which can contain them without risking the audience's safety.

All championship winning designs rolled on wheels rather than maneuvering on tank-style treads or walking on mechanical legs. Tracked and walking robots require more advanced building capabilities and are generally heavier, bulkier, and more fragile. Walking robots are given an additional weight allotment to help compensate for the design difficulties, but tracked robots are not. An all-terrain environment would offer a tracked or walking robot some advantages, but most robotic combat is held on a smooth, flat arena where wheeled robots are more appropriate.

  • Cluster Bots - also permitted were "Cluster Bots", which started out as one robot and could split into two or even three smaller robots during the fight itself. They did however have to be capable of splitting and joining back up without human intervention and had to start each fight as "one". There was no extra weight allowance for Cluster Bots however so the dilemma was out-numbering your opponent but with smaller robots that on their own can't really compete with the larger one. One robot was known as a good cluster bot was Gemini, which split into two, with each half possessing a CO2-based lifter not too dissimilar from Chaos 2. It enjoyed some success but ultimately unless the two were both functioning well working in tandem would often come up short against any half decent single heavyweight. Rules governing when a Cluster Bot was "out" changed throughout the series of Robot Wars. Sometimes all sub-bots would have to be eliminated, sometimes just one. Eventually they decided it had to be the "majority" in terms of either number (2 out of 3 parts) or weight (e.g. the heavier robot from the later Cluster Bot Typhoon Thunder, made by the creators of Typhoon 2).

The current rules used in the UK "Live circuit" state that clusterbots are deemed "out" when more than 50% of the running weight is immobile. This favours the uneven weighted or numbered machines. Examples of uneven cluster is the Dutch V3 cluster build by 3 separate teams, who each had a full heavyweight in the Dutch Series II competition(filmed back to back with the UK series 6). This last machine barely could make true its value as clusterbot as no mechanical interlock was achieved. Only the lifter on one of the 3 cluster parts could be used as interlock. Nonetheless this set of 3 smaller machines was fun to watch.

[edit] The competition

There are a variety of games played, though the main knockout arena game is the most popular. Other games have included obstacle courses, robot football, and tug of war and sumo against shunt. In some games, including the main arena game, there are additional "House Robots" who patrol certain areas of the arena. If a robot enters those zones, the House Robots are permitted to join in and add to the general chaos.

There are other hazards in the arena, the most popular being "the pit", (known in earlier series as "The Pit of Oblivion") a hole in the floor into which a robot may fall and become trapped, unable to get out (in later series, the pit could be opened by any robot activating a 'switch' on the arena wall, which was really a tire painted yellow. In one series there was an actual switch, as the tire was constantly getting knocked off the wall). There are also retracting spikes, flame torches, cutting wheels built into the arena sidewalls, and a powerful flipper which can fling a robot across the arena. In two series there was a spinning panel on the floor, also activated by a switch/tyre, known as "The Disc of Doom". However, this was soon removed from the arena again as the competitors hardly ever used it, and wedge robots were getting their front ends stuck under the panel at the start of fights. Finally, in the final series there was "The Drop Zone," a large "X" on the floor, where beaten robots were placed by a house robot or opponent, and after a countdown from 10 to 1 by the audience and Refbot, a very heavy object (for example, a TV, an ocean buoy, refrigerator or most commonly, a washing machine) was dropped on top of them in a rather cartoony fashion.

The House Robots are not bound by the same rules as the competitors, and are generally much larger and heavier, as well as being professionally built. The number of house robots in the arena varied in each series - four in Series 1, five or six in Series 2, five in Series 3, six in Series 4 & 5, eight in Series 6, nine in Series 7, and in the spin-off show, Robot Wars Extreme (where various other competitions and random battles were contested), there were six in the first series and eight in the second. The five 'main' house robots--that is, the best-known ones--, are: Shunt, Matilda, Dead Metal, Sergeant Bash, and Sir Killalot. There was also The Sentinel, a giant robotic arm which impeded contestants' progress in the Gauntlet game in Series 2. In Series 4, the Refbot was added to ensure fair play in the arena, and to provide extra camera footage from the heat of battle. Although initially criticised for always 'getting in the way' of fights, it was more or less accepted by the time Robot Wars Extreme got under way the following year, when he was given the ability to give out yellow and red 'cards' to offending contestant; and more often than not, house robots, (red cards meaning the house robot was forbidden to take part for the remainder of the battle, even when a robot was being destroyed in the normal way by their fellow house robots) and to 'count out' defeated robots as if in a boxing match.

In Series 6, a new pair of house robots was built, named Mr. Psycho and Growler. They were very well received, and in Series 7, a further robot joined the group, a boxing robot named Cassius Chrome (nicknamed "Hammered Ali").

In general the winner is the last robot still functioning. In the event of a tie or disputed outcome, there is a panel of 3 adjudicators who judge based on "style, control, damage, and aggression."

The Dutch series - made by Mentorn, on the request of BNN - 1 and 2 took place alongside the UK series 5 and 6. For series 7 several Dutch and 1 Belgian entry entered the main UK competition, with mixed success.

The UK TV series Robot Wars has now drawn to a close; however, robot builders in the UK have been taking part in competitions independent of Robot Wars for several years and the community is expanding. Combat events are organised across the UK on at least a monthly basis, but are usually bi-weekly. The Netherlands are also active, but with less frequency.

There is an active group of roboteers in Brazil, but at the moment not much is known about it.

The Fighting Robot Association (FRA) is the most prominent body in the UK at the moment. The 2006 UK Fighting Robot Championship, organised by the FRA, saw a unknown robot called Turbulence beating Storm II to the title.

[edit] Robots that appear in Robot Wars UK, US and/or Battlebots

Note: This list is incomplete.

[edit] Robots that appear in Robots Wars UK and United States

  • Prometheus (UK, US)

[edit] Robots that appear in Robot Wars UK and Battlebots

Killerhurtz was the most successful of the robots (listed above) in Battlebots, making it to the final against Biohazard. In Series 3 of Robot Wars, Killerhurtz said they hadn't seen the pit, (which Killerhurtz drove in to) because "the competition in America didn't have one (pit)"

[edit] Competition winners

[edit] 1994 (United States)

  • Heavyweight (100 lb) - Ramfire 2000
  • Middleweight (70 lb) - IX
  • Lightweight (40 lb) - The Julie-Bot

[edit] 1995 (United States)

  • Heavyweight (160 lb) - 'The Master' and 'Blendo' were declared co-champions following an agreement under which Blendo withdrew from the tournament due to audience safety concerns.
  • Middleweight (80 lb) - La Machine
  • Lightweight (40 lb) - Test Toaster 1
  • Super Lightweight (20 lb) - Kreigmaschienmensch (KMM)

[edit] 1996 (United States)

  • Heavyweight (165 lb) - Biohazard
  • Middleweight 100 lb (45 kg) - The Agamemnon
  • Lightweight (50 lb) - Atiller the Hun
  • Featherweight (25 lb) - Wedge of Doom

[edit] 1997 (United States)

  • Heavyweight (170 lb) - Biohazard
  • Middleweight 100 lb (45 kg) - Vicious-1
  • Lightweight (50 lb) - Defiant
  • Featherweight (25 lb) - Wedge of Doom

[edit] UK Series 1 (1997)

Main article: Robot Wars UK Series 1

[edit] UK Series 2 (1998)

[edit] UK Series 3 (1999)

  • UK Champion - Chaos 2
  • World Champion - Razer
  • Middleweight Champion - Tentomushi & A-Kill (joint winners - however they later played off head to head and Tentomushi won)
  • International League Champion - Razer
  • Best Design Award - Razer
  • Best Engineered Award - Chaos 2
  • Most Original Entry Award - Hypno-disc
  • Sportsmanship Award - Diotoir
  • Best Newcomer - Hypno-Disc
  • Robotic Soccer Tournament Champion - Evil Weevil
  • Pinball Warrior Tournament Champion - Razer

[edit] UK Series 4 (2000)

  • UK Champion - Chaos 2
  • Best Design - Gemini
  • Best Engineered - The Steel Avenger
  • Most Original Entry - Gemini
  • Sportsmanship Award - Diotoir (Son of Nemesis)
  • Grand Champion - Chaos 2
  • Best Newcomer - Tornado

[edit] Robot Wars Extreme - Series 1 (2001)

  • World Champion - Razer
  • Antweight Champion - Combat-ant
  • Featherweight Champion - Beefcake
  • Middleweight Champion - Typhoon
  • All Stars Champion - Razer
  • Tag Team Terror Champions - Díotóir & Pussycat
  • Challenge Belt Champion - Tornado
  • UK v Germany Champion - Nasty Warrior (Germany)
  • Armed Forces Champion - Anvil
  • First Annihilator Champion - Pussycat
  • Second Annihilator Champion - Disco Inferno

[edit] UK Series 5 (2001)

  • UK Champion - Razer
  • Best Design Award - Razer
  • Best Engineered Award - Derek
  • Most Original Entry Award - S3
  • Sportsmanship Award - Pussycat
  • Best Newcomer - Fluffy

[edit] UK Series 6 (2002)

  • UK Champion - Tornado
  • Best Design Award - 259
  • Best Engineered Award - Anarchy
  • Most Original Entry Award - Crushtacean
  • Sportsmanship Award - Kat 3
  • Best Newcomer - Dantomkia

[edit] Robot Wars Extreme - Series 2 (2002)

  • European Champion - Tornado
  • Middleweight Champion - Typhoon
  • Lightweight Champion - Typhoon Thunder
  • Featherweight Champion - Arg
  • Antweight Champion - Anty-B
  • All Stars Champion - Razer
  • Annihilator Champion - Kan Opener
  • Minor Meltdown Champion - Bigger Brother
  • Tag Team Terror Champions - Bulldog Breed & Robochicken
  • New Blood Champion - Storm 2
  • Challenge Belt Champion - Tornado
  • Iron Maidens Champion - Chompalot 2
  • University Challenge Champion - Tiberius 3
  • Commonwealth Carnage Champion - Firestorm 4

[edit] UK Series 7 (2003)

  • UK Champion - Typhoon 2
  • World Champion - Storm II
  • Middleweight Champion - Typhoon
  • Featherweight Champion - DTK (Dantomkia)
  • Best Newcomer - Gravity
  • Annihilator Champion - Kan Opener
  • All Stars Champion - Pussycat

[edit] Other countries

Robot Wars Extreme Warriors (United States):

  • Series 1 (2001) - Panzer Mk. II
  • Series 2 (2002) - Panzer Mk. IV

The champions of Dutch Robot Wars were:

  • Series 1 - Slicer. A drum armed stainless steel armoured wedge with tracks
  • Series 2 - Pulveriser, a disk wielding agile machine

[edit] Seeds

The main tournament also featured 'seeded' robots, ranked in a table based on past performance. In Series 2, the 6 grand finalists from Series 1 were seeded, but some did not return for Series 2, so Mortis and Killertron got seedings instead. In Series 3, there were no seeds, due to the raft of rule changes that year.

In Series 4, some robots were seeded based on past performance, such as Razer, and some by popularity, such as Mortis, Plunderbird 4 and Díotóir. The series semi-finalists from Series 3 were all seeded, but when Trident and Blade's Big Bruva pulled out at the last minute, the list was reshuffled slightly, and Centurion 2 and Suicidal Tendencies were both given seedings. The brief rumour that the cheap, square-shaped, home-made hobbyist robot R.O.C.S. (Roboticly operated control systems) had been seeded, despite being the loser in nearly every event in series 3, was quickly dispelled.

From Series 4 onwards, winning a heat final and going through to the series semi-finals won that robot a seeding, which meant that they gained automatic entry into the next year's competition.

Between Series 6 & 7, many 'veteran' teams had pulled out, such as Razer, Chaos 2, and Hypno-Disc, so the list had to be compiled in a similar way to that of Series 4. Since Razer was no longer competing, Firestorm 5 and Terrorhurtz, who would have been third and fourth, moved up to second and third (even though the latter never got to fight in the end), with Bigger Brother taking fourth spot. Other seeds were given their place on the table on past performance, whilst Storm 2, who won automatic entry into Series 7 by winning the New Blood championship in Robot Wars Extreme Series 2, was given the 16th and bottom spot.

[edit] Series 2

  1. Roadblock
  2. Mortis
  3. Bodyhammer
  4. Killertron
  5. Cassius
  6. Chaos

[edit] Series 4

  1. Chaos 2
  2. Hypno-disc
  3. Razer
  4. Panic Attack
  5. Firestorm 2
  6. Behemoth
  7. Steg 2
  8. Gemini
  9. 101
  10. Spawn of Scutter
  11. Wild Thing
  12. Evil Weevil
  13. Gravedigger
  14. Bigger Brother
  15. Wheely Big Cheese
  16. Killerhurtz
  17. King B3
  18. Cerberus
  19. Pussycat
  20. Aggrobot 2
  21. Díotóir
  22. X-Terminator 2
  23. Mortis
  24. Berserk 2
  25. Shadow of Napalm
  26. Plunderbird 4
  27. Sir Chromalot
  28. Wel-dor
  29. Dreadnaut XP-1
  30. Stinger
  31. Centurion 2
  32. Suicidal Tendencies

[edit] Series 5

  1. Chaos 2
  2. Pussycat
  3. Hypno-disc
  4. Razer
  5. Stinger
  6. Panic Attack 2
  7. Firestorm 3
  8. 3 Stegs To Heaven
  9. Wild Thing
  10. Wheely Big Cheese
  11. Dominator 2
  12. Tornado
  13. Spawn Again
  14. X-Terminator
  15. Behemoth
  16. Thermidor 2
  17. Splinter
  18. Gemini
  19. Mini Morg
  20. Mousetrap
  21. Suicidal Tendencies
  22. Atomic 2
  23. 101
  24. S.M.I.D.S.Y.

[edit] Series 6

  1. Razer
  2. Bigger Brother
  3. Firestorm 4
  4. Hypno-disc
  5. Chaos 2
  6. Dominator 2
  7. S3
  8. Panic Attack
  9. Wild Thing
  10. Spawn Again
  11. Stinger
  12. Tornado

[edit] Series 7

  1. Tornado
  2. Firestorm 5
  3. Terrorhurtz
  4. Bigger Brother
  5. Dantomkia
  6. Spawn Again
  7. 13 Black
  8. Panic Attack
  9. Pussycat
  10. Behemoth
  11. X-Terminator
  12. Bulldog Breed
  13. S.M.I.D.S.Y.
  14. Thermidor 2
  15. Ming Die-nasty
  16. Storm II

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

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